Client Background

The client is a fintech startup serving mid-market organizations, specifically targeting finance executives who influence purchasing decisions for financial technology solutions. The company had built some inbound traction but faced challenges typical of early-stage B2B growth: inconsistent lead quality, limited brand awareness, and no structured outbound sales motion. The primary stakeholder we worked with was the Chief Sales Officer/Chief Revenue Officer, who recognized that relying solely on inbound leads would create a long-term growth bottleneck. They needed a scalable outbound process to consistently engage decision-makers, test messaging, and validate product-market fit.

The Challenge

The company’s outbound sales efforts had previously failed because there was no structured process or messaging framework, leaving the team dependent on unreliable inbound leads. Without product-market-messaging alignment, attempts at outbound resulted in low engagement and wasted effort. This lack of structure created a bottleneck in pipeline growth and limited the company’s ability to forecast revenue. Additionally, their brand recognition in the mid-market finance space was minimal, making it difficult to generate interest without highly personalized outreach. Essentially, the company had the demand potential but lacked a reliable, repeatable system to reach, engage, and convert the right prospects.

Goals & Success Criteria

The client wanted to establish a structured outbound motion that could generate qualified leads predictably while testing and refining messaging to achieve product-market fit. Specifically, they aimed to:

• Build a reliable, high-volume outbound campaign targeting finance executives at mid-market organizations.

• Test multiple messaging narratives simultaneously to identify what resonated most with the audience.

• Ensure complete coverage of the Total Addressable Market on a quarterly basis.

• Book qualified meetings quickly and convert them into Sales Qualified Leads.
  Success would be measured by the speed and volume of meetings booked, the number of SQLs generated, and ultimately the dollar value of pipeline created.

The Solution

We designed a high-volume, call-based outbound campaign underpinned by Narrative and Sub-ICP testing. Each quarter, the Total Addressable Market was mapped and fully covered, ensuring no high-value prospects were missed. Messaging was tested across multiple narratives to quickly identify which value propositions resonated with finance executives. To maximize engagement quality, Clay AI personalization technology was used to tailor each outreach at scale. Daily call volume ranged from 500 to 1,000 dials, allowing us to collect enough data to rapidly validate messaging while ensuring the process remained efficient. Only the most effective narratives were scaled, mitigating risk and avoiding wasted effort.

Implementation

The implementation began with workshops to define the Ideal Customer Profile and map the Total Addressable Market. Following this, 20–40 simultaneous narrative and sub-ICP tests were launched via high-volume outbound calls, ensuring multiple messaging approaches could be tested in parallel. The team leveraged AI personalization to increase engagement rates and reduce the friction that typically comes with cold outreach. Campaign performance was continuously monitored, with underperforming narratives being paused and the winning approaches scaled immediately. This iterative process ensured rapid learning and immediate impact on pipeline generation.

Results

Within two weeks of campaign ramp-up, the client booked 30 meetings, which converted into 20 Sales Qualified Leads. At an average contract value of $60,000, this resulted in a $1.2 million pipeline. Beyond the immediate numbers, the campaign provided the client with a validated, repeatable outbound process. Messaging and product-market fit were confirmed, enabling the client to approach future outbound campaigns with confidence. The structured outbound motion is ongoing, providing continuous pipeline generation and a scalable model for mid-market engagement.